Manufacturing Process

of Refined Sugar
By: Vernie Soriano
Jeremiah Santos

INTRODUCTION
We enjoy sweets as we need
sweetness in our lives. Centuries ago,
sweets were rare. They enjoyed it
only a few times a year. Now, we find
sugar everywhere. It has been an
important
food
ingredient
that
provides a balanced sweet taste, and
functional properties essential in a
multitude of foods.

DEFINITION
Sugar
- noun;sugar\shuu -gr\
- is a sweet substance usually in the
form of white or brown crystals or
white powder that comes from plants
and is used to make foods sweeter.
(Merriam-Webster)

DEFINITION
- It is also known as the Sucrose
(Saccharose), which came from the
Greek word Sacchar which is the
general term for naturally-occurring
carbohydrates found in many plants
and characterized by a more or less
sweet taste.

 Sugars are included in the group

Saccharide together with the
starch and fibers.
Sugars are composed of carbon,
hydrogen, and oxygen.
It has usually with a hydrogenoxygen atom ratio of 2:1 and has the
molecular formula CnH2nOnwhere n is
between 3 and 7.

DEFINITION
Refine
- verb;refine\ri-fn\
- is a process of removing impurities or
unwanted
elements
from
a
substance typically as part of an
industrial process. (Merriam-Webster)

 The process whereby plants make

sugars is photosynthesis.
The reaction of photosynthesis can
be written as the following chemical
equation when sucrose is being
made:
12 CO2+ 11 H2O + energy = C12H22O11+
12 O2
carbon dioxide + water + sunlight =
sucrose + oxygen

TYPES OF SUGAR
A.Monosaccharides
-. came from Greek word monos which
means simple and sacchar which
means sugar.
-. They are the fundamental units of
carbohydrates in that they cannot
behydrolyzedto smaller carbohydrates.
-. They are the simplest form ofsugarand
are usually colorless, water-soluble and
crystalline solids.

- It include glucose, fructose and galactose

with the chemical formula C6H12O6.
Fructose a.k.a. fruit sugar, occurs
naturally in fruits, some root vegetables,
cane sugar and honey. It is the sweetest of
the sugars.
Glucose a.k.a. dextrose or grape sugar,
occurs naturally in fruits and plant juices. It
circulates in the blood of animals asblood
sugar.
Galactose a.k.a. milk sugar, a simple
sugar found in milk and dairy foods. It is
less sweet than glucose and fructose.

TYPES OF SUGAR
B. Disaccharides
- also called adouble sugarorbiose.
- These are the sugar formed when two
monosaccharides are joined.
- The
most
common
types
of
disaccharides have twelvecarbonatoms
and are sometimes crystalline, soluble in
water and sticky-feeling.
- It include lactose, maltose and sucrose
with the chemical formula C12H22O11.

 Lactose - is the naturally occurring

sugar found in milk. It is formed by
the combination of a molecule of
galactose with a molecule of glucose.
Maltose a.k.a. maltobioseormalt
sugar, is a component of malt which
is found in beverages, beer, cereal,
pasta, potatoes and grain products. A
molecule of maltose is formed by the
combination of two molecules of
glucose.

 Sucrose a.k.a. table sugar or

white sugar, is found in the stems of
sugar cane and roots of sugar beet.
A molecule of sucrose is formed by
the combination of a molecule of
glucose with a molecule of fructose.

HISTORY
1st century AD Sugar cane were found
being grown in Persia by Arab peoples. They
used sugar for medical purposes only.
5th century AD Indians discovered
methods of turning sugar cane juice into
granulated crystals. These crystals were
called khanda, which is the source word of
candy.
7th century AD Indians taught methods of
cultivating sugar cane in Tang China during
the time of Emperor Taizong. The China then
established first sugar cane plantations.

HISTORY
15th century AD European sugar was
refined in Venice. In the same century,
Columbus sailed to the Americas, the "New
World". It is recorded that in 1493, he took
sugar cane plants to grow in the Caribbean.
By 1750, there were 120 sugar refineries
operating in Britain. Their combined output
was only 30,000 tons per annum. At this
stage, sugar was still a luxury and vast
profits were made to the extent that sugar
was called "white gold".

HISTORY
In 1747, sugar beet was first
identified as a source of sugar.
In 1880, sugar beet had replaced
sugar cane as the main source of
sugar on continental Europe.
19th century AD sugar cube was
invented by Jakub Krystof Rad, a
Moravian director of sugar company.

RAW MATERIALS
A.Sugar Cane
-. It is a perennial grass in the family Poaceae.
-. It is a type of grass with a bamboo-like
jointed stem that grows up to five meters in
height and five centimeters in diameter.
-. It is a tropical plant where it can only be
cultivated in countries near the equator, or
in
areas
where
there
are
average
temperatures of 24C (75F).
-. A mature stalk of cane is typically composed
of 1116% fiber, 1216% soluble sugars, 2
3% non-sugars, and 6373% water.

RAW MATERIALS
B. Sugar Beet
- It is a biennial tuberous root crop of
which contains a high proportion of
sucrose.
- It is cultivated in temperate regions with
adequate rainfall and requires a fertile
soil.
- When mature, a sugar beet is an offwhite colour and conical with a flat
crown, and looks similar to a turnip.
- The root of the beet contains 75% water,
about 20% sugar, and 5% pulp

PRODUCTION
Sugar is produced in over 120
countries and global production is
approximately 180 million tonnes a
year.
Approximately 80% of sugar is
produced from sugar cane, and the
remaining from sugar beet.
The five largest producers of sugar
wereBrazil,
India,
theEuropean
Union, China andThailand.

MANUFACTURING
PROCESS

Harvesting of Sugarcane
Fully mature
Two types:
-Manual
-Mechanical

Transport and Handling

Trolley
s
Trucks

Material Handling and

Storage
Stored in cane yards
Carried from cane yard to feeding
area by:
-

hook/chain
Cranes
Conveyer belt
Carry

Washing

Cutting and Shredding

Cutte

Shredd

MILLING TANDEMS
3 roller mills
connected in series
- Top roller
- Feed roller
- Discharge roller

5-7 in number
Extract the juice
from crushed cane

PRODUCTS OF MILLS

USES OF BAGASSE
Used as fuel to generate steam
Steam used for
- Generating electricity
- Evaporation of juice before
crystallization

FILTRATION
Filtration process is the separation of suspended &
colloidal particles from the raw juice.
CLARIFICATION: process where sludge, mud, suspended
& colloidal particles are removed by chemical
compounds.
Raw can juice are filled in clarifier (conical shape vessel),
and slaked lime is added.
When these chemicals are mixed suspended and colloidal
particles are collect in flock and resulting settled down.
Neat and clean juice comes out from the upper section of
clarifier, sludge and mud are collect in the bottom and
drainage to rotary filter

FILTRATION
Calcium
hydroxide or
Slaked lime
Ca(OH)2 : acts
as bleaching
agent
Carbon Dioxide
(CO2) : acts as
acidifying
agent

MUD FILTRATION
Clarified mud from the
clarifier further filtered
in rotary filter.
In the rotary filter
consist a rotary drum
& vacuum atmosphere
in its center.
Mud & sludge are stick
on the periphery of
rotating drum by the
action of suction.

EVAPORATORS
Juice evaporated to
obtain super saturated
solution
Increase concentration
of juice from 15brix
to 65brix
Juice preheated to
around 107-110 C
Multiple effect
evaporators are used

MULTIPLE EFFECT
EVAPORATOR
1 liter steam to
evaporate 4 liter juice
Steam temperature
113-130 C at 1st pan
and 55 C at last pan
Each subsequent vessel
with decreasing
pressure
Last pan being under
almost a total vacuum
Here used 3 to 5
number of evaporators

CRYSTALLIZATION
The crystallization process takes place in vacuum pans
which boil the juice at lower temperature under vacuum.
Brix are increased from 65 to 75 by boiling at 60C
Process consist of 3 major events:
- Clustering
- Nucleation
- Growth

CONT
Massecuite
- Mixture of
crystals and
mother liquor
(molasses)
resulting from
the
crystallization

Transferred to
crystallizer at
low
temperature

CENTRIFUGATION
Centrifugation process is based on centrifugal force.
To remove the sugar crystals from the molasses,
high-speed (1800-2000 rpm) rotating spin applied to
the massecuite, resulting by the action of
centrifugal force sugar crystals and mother liquor
being separate.

DRYING
Drying is very essential mass transfer
operation in processing sugar cane into sugar.
The moisture content in sugar after leaving
centrifuge which varies b/w 0.5 to 2.% needed
to reduced about 0.05% for safe storage.

REFINING OF RAW SUGAR

Mixture of raw sugar
with high purity syrup
(85% sugar solution)
called magma
Melts outermost layer
of the raw sugar crystal
at 50C
Centrifugation to
remove resulting syrup
from melting of the outer
layer

PURIFICATION
Large machines then spin the
magma, which separate the
molasses from the crystals. Crystals
are promptly washed, dissolved and
filtered to remove impurities.
Colorants remover by decolorization
Granular activated carbon

EVAPORATION &
CRYSTALLIZATION
Sugar syrup evaporated up to super
saturation
Crystallization occurs at the vacuum pan
Centrifugation to obtain refined sugar crystals

PACKAGING
Containers opaque, airtight,
moisture/odor proof.

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN
INDUSTRY
In India, about one-third of the sugar cane
production is utilised for making gur and
khandsari. This causes shortage of raw
material for the sugar mills.
The sugar industry has a seasonal
character and the crushing season
normally varies between 4 and 7 months
in a year. Thus, the mill and the workers
remain idle for almost half of the year.
This creates financial problems.